The Pit
by LimeyRizFizzle
Summary: Running through the realities she was bound to find him again. The first time she did though, he was neither The Doctor whom she was looking for nor was the situation anything ideal. But he needed her, even if he wouldn't say it aloud, and no matter what form he took or what reality he was from, he was Her Doctor and she was His Rose. She'd tear through universes to save him.
1. Through the Looking Glass

Hi! First, this story takes place BEFORE JE, just because we KNOW that Rose had to see tons of things before finding her Doctor again. Why not another world with another Doctor? I imagined this particular story as an inspiration of what happened between the lines, and as such the world and situation created is purely of my own devices. If you have suggestions or would like to comment on any technical details about Doctor Who; I do need a savvy Beta for this tale. Lemme know!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Rose would never have left the show. Since she did… I guess I don't.

Chapter 1: Through The Looking Glass

_Falling in love, that is the beginning of everything._

_- Cat Lane_

Lightening crackled in electric blue as once again the thin veil between realities was ripped asunder and a woman running at break-neck speeds came shattering through. Her trainers pounded onto the pavement of a deserted street as she slowed; eyes dark and cataloging as she took in her surroundings. Empty streets, quiet night, not even a stray picking through for an easy meal; seems like she yet again had found the end of the world. A quick glance at a large watch strapped to her wrist gave her a time and a date but taking in the scene of the desolate urban landscape void of hustle and bustle it was more than obvious to the young woman that this was not her universe. How could it be? She distinctively remembered her world as being not-this-quiet. Surely only 2 years since she popped off couldn't wipe them clean out of existence. Not with their Oncoming Storm out to save them. This could only mean she made it to the right time, but an entirely wrong dimension. Once again, she had missed her objective by the very threads of time.

With the dimension cannon depleted for the next half-hour, it meant that the woman would have to wait to make the return trip home in hopes that a recalibration would bring her to the right place, at the right time. A tweak here, a tweak there, a smashing of a mallet and surely it'd work right. Smashing with a mallet always made things work right. The corners of her lips quirked into the shadow of a smile that used to be so much wider, all before her blue-clad form ducked into a nearby building for shelter during the recharge period. Though there was no signs of life that her human eyes could distinguish it hardly meant that she was safe out in the open. She had seen too much, experienced too much, to feel guarded prancing through the veins of deserted Old London Town.

She took president behind the bulk of a counter, quietly noting that it seemed she had chosen an abandoned bar as her hideout. It seemed odd to her that the place was mostly untouched. Chairs stood tucked under tables awaiting guests to grace them. The floor was clear of debris common of chaos. Glancing up at the row of bottles lining the back wall of the bar she mused over the fact that the liquor was still sitting there, waiting for a custom order. No bodies on the floor, no blood splatters on the wall, not even a stray bullet casing or a burn blast to suggest violence; the only thing out of place to opening time was a layer of dust that had settled over the all of it. Whatever had happened had clean picked everyone clear off the streets and their places of comfort. She could only imagine what the rest of the city looked like.

Another glance at her trusty little wrist watch (mimicked after a specific time traveler she had met oh so long ago), the woman ticked off how much time had passed and just how much more she needed to wait for. Her fingers brushed the set of buttons collected along the side of the watch's square monitor face; the screen flickering in and out as different settings came into view. Body Vitals, Pac Man (Because sometimes… you needed things like that), SATNAV; her body tensed at the last option. Brown eyes widened in surprise, lips parting slightly as a jaw lowered in awe. There, in the corner left of the screen, a bleep shown.

There was only one thing that her SATNAV responded to, one thing only that could pop up on her screen wherever she was, and that was one beautifully magnificent ship that could cross all space and time with little worry or care. The Tardis, whimsical thing that it was, was registering on her SATNAV. Here. In this destructed excuse of a world. And if the Tardis was here, that could only mean one thing. _He was here too._

Trainers met pavement once again as she barreled out of the cover of the bar and went blindly into the street, looking left than right before glancing back at her SATNAV. Turning about, she settled on a route and was off into the quiet streets. Despite her excitement all her training on the other side of the void stayed active, taking in little details about her surroundings as she made her way back to one of the few places she called home. Everywhere things were out of place. A chip vendor on the corner just waiting for customers, a car with the driver's door open as if someone was about to get out, a picnic laid out near a park bench; remnants of people going on about their normal lives left as if they all had just suddenly disappeared. But that wasn't possible, not if this was her universe. Questions would be answered soon enough though, because around the corner and to the left stood a familiar blue box tucked quietly under the cover of a warehouse garage.

The grin that spread clear across her face as she rushed towards it was near painful. It had been so long since her muscles stretched to smile so wide. Her hand flew to the key that lay around her neck, and unlocking the beauty of a spaceship she tumbled inside. Her heart shriveled in pain.

Ruins, the inside of her beloved ship was in ruins. Wires and bits were strewn across the grating of the floor and panels from the ceiling had been torn clear out, her innards all hanging down around her center column like clouds of agony and mutilation. Emergency lighting had kicked in, betraying that her main power had been off for god only knew how long, casting an eerie glow across the destruction. Drawing her hand to her mouth, she muffled the sobs of agony that wracked her body and fell to her knees amongst the remains of what once her sanctuary.

What the hell had happened? Where the hell was The Doctor? To many questions, not enough time. There were things to take care of, and they needed to be taken care of right now.

She didn't know where much of anything went, but the one thing she did know was that she couldn't leave things the way they were. Not the Tardis, not broken and battered like this. She quietly swallowed down her pain and shoved it to that corner of her mind where all other things were filed neatly away. Standing, she moved towards the closest panel of torn circuitry and reached out; her fingers brushing against the gutted board. Familiar warmth brushed against her mind as she touched the board, the slightest flicker of lights and a brief hum catching her attention and causing her walls to break down all over again. The Tardis had spoken to her, and though she had never been one to be fluent in Telepathic Banter, the intentions behind the gentle reassuring touches were clear.

_Welcome home. We missed you. Sorry it's such a mess._

She wanted to cry. "Oh you beautiful girl… look what they've done ta'ya. I don't know what ta'do. Tell me what ta'do." Her voice shook with her insecurities. She couldn't fix The Tardis, she didn't know how. And yet despite her distress the ship continues to hum her comforting brushes. As if it was all OK, it would all be OK.

She shook her head in disbelief, sending her waves of confusion and helplessness to the ship that had protected and kept her safe. In response, one of the monitors that had been pulled off its hinging and left on a tilt flickered to life. Curious, she moved towards the blinking screen to see just what her beloved ship wished to show her. The image was blurry, but it was clear as to what it was. Similar to the screen of her SATNAV, it was a grid map of the surrounding area. And there, on the screen, a pair of rectangular spectacles bleeped in a single spot.

_The Doctor._

Dialing the coordinates into her SATNAV, she rubbed her hand affectionately along the center column of the Tardis and whispered her promise of return. "I'll bring him back, I will. We'll fix ya'right up. Just wait a bit for me, yeah?" Another dimming of lights and the woman was back out into the streets, racing towards the signal on her SATNAV as if hounds of hell nipped at her feet.

- The Pit

"… I know you're all superior with that biology of yours and stuff… but I think that every couple decades or so you still have to eat." Captain Jack Hartness was probably playing with death, but ever since he had become immortal he really wasn't scared of such things like consequences and repercussions. Not on himself at least. With that in mind, it was little wonder that he was doing something incredibly stupid at the moment. A hand stretched out between the bars of the prison wall that separated the incredibly stupid Captain Jack Hartness from one of his best mates, the curved yellow form of a banana in hand. When it refused to provoke a proper response from the brooding mass of TimeLord in the far corner of the adjacent cell, he gave it a little wiggle as if tempting a dog to feed. "Mmm… Buh-Nah-Nah."

Never one to be demeaned in intelligence as such the beast being baited snapped, launching himself clear across the expanse of his small cell, and smacked the banana clear out of Jack's hand. It thudded to the wall uselessly, bruised and abused, and with a sad sigh Jack watched it forlornly. "Ya know that wasn't very nice. You used to like bananas." A glower of indescribable anger and gloom honed in on the rather nonchalant man, only to be met with an exaggerated shrug from the latter. "Then again, that wouldn't be the first yellow thing you tossed to the side." A splash of cold water to the mind hazed over with distress turned The Timelord's edginess to muted anguish. He visibly shrank into himself, sagging against the bars that separated him from the immortal, muttering nonsense and jibberish about how much he truly did adore yellow things, wouldn't leave them alone for the world, wouldn't ever toss them to the side. And then as if realizing what his actions symbolized, he crawled to where the discarded banana lay and curled it into his chest, murmuring soft words of endearment to it meant for someone else. Someone long absent and much too needed.

Jack knew it was low to bring up the incident that changed everything, knew that maybe karma would bite him in the ass later as he got electrocuted by some wayward alien from Sector VII, but the ragged thinning appearance of his one and only companion left him little choice but to resort to any means necessary to ensure some sort of nourishment made it into the stubborn git. Even if that insurance did come at the cost of tilting the Timelords' already unstable emotional state. Ensuring that his cellblock mate actually did in fact peel the banana to consume it, he slid down the wall to wait for the nutrients to feed that big Timelord Brain and intelligent conversation to once again become an option. You didn't get much socializing when you're a captive outside of The Events and the regular torture sessions.

The American Time Traveler put on his trademark grin as a Guard came around the outside of the cell block, opting for a jolly little wave at the armed personal as they made their rounds. It was their fourth time through that day meaning that the time for Festivities was upon them. Oh goody, nothing like mandatory exercise with the consequence of death to make you feel motivated. The nonsensical babbling from the cell-next-door ceased, and with it a clear-eyed Time Lord emerged in his view. Ah, there we go. That's better. "Hey there Doc, thought for sure you were a goner that time."

The doors to their cells clicked open as lights flashed on bright through the halls. Blinking dumbly at the sudden brightness that flooded their visions, Jack's only response was a dark chuckle from The Doctor, "If only, Jack. If only."

- The Pit

Underground. The Doctor was underground. As a matter of fact, everything was underground. This was the realization that dawned upon Rose Tyler as she viewed the deviant sublet that had grown beneath the ruins of what was once London. Of course she hadn't known it was underground to start, the Tardis had been far too weak to properly display levels of duct work and had instead only given her coordinates, but that didn't matter much in the grander scheme of things. Poking around here and there about the factory that sat atop the entrance below had her found by humanoid guards dressed in all manners of black metal and, consequently, captured. Oh, it wasn't about whether or not she could run nor was it about whether or not she could fight; but more about the fact that she looked up, had a laser shined in her eyes, and all the lights in her head promptly had turned off.

When she came too though she wasn't happy, downright grumpy to be precise. Situated inside this clear tube on a cart, she hovered down a hall between two more humanoid guards. She couldn't tell if they were the same ones who mind-blasted her into oblivion, but overall she already had such a strong dislike of them she doubted it mattered. The first thing she did when she got her bearings was to thrust her leg out at the glass casing around her, only to flinch back in pain and scream profanities that would have made her mother blush as the tube resisted the impact and cause her foot a rather heavy dose of pain. Dropping down to the floor of the tub to rub at her bruised appendage, she instead turned to gaze at the sights passing by. A city, there was a whole city beneath Ruins o'London, and it was alive with Alien Activity. Of course they weren't going through the streets of the city, more like this upper hall coasting near the top of the cavern the whole of it was situated in. From the center of the smaller rounded buildings one stood tall and prominent. Shaped similar to an open air arena, all manners of lights poured forth from the center and dappled the ceiling of the cave above. Pulling up her sleeve to take a peek at her SATNAV, Rose gave a soft groan as she noted her bare wrist. She just had to be captured by intelligent guards, didn't she? Tossing a glare at the one who trailed behind her, she only just barely caught the curve of a smirk from below the form of his headpiece before he took out that laser, shined her eyes yet again, and the world once more went to black.

- The Pit

The sounds of cheers roared from thousands of throats as the lights flooded down onto the center stage within the arena. Aliens of every shape and form filled the bleachers; praising the gods of entertainment for bringing them this sickened twist of gladiator meets space age. From the center of the arena, a trap door spread open and the days competitors were raised up into the light. Crowd favorites these two were; the very last of their own kinds. A Timelord who raged with all the fury of the Vortex in his eyes and a Human Man who rose again and again despite whatever fell as his fate. Sure the latter wasn't the _only_ human left, after all those who overtook the planet quickly found that they made good for hard labor and pets, but he was the only one who wouldn't die no matter the amount of bullets pushed through his skull. That made him a favorite. The other was just fun to watch. So many morals he had to break, so many rules and boundaries he shattered before them. All in futile attempts to save the very race he loved so dearly, to save the Humans that couldn't understand little more than that he was Alien, just like all those who enslaved them. How long would it take to revert one of the oldest and most advanced species back into a primitive beast? Those who ran the games were all too find out.

The platforms that connected the center stage of the arena to the supporting walls pulled away, isolating the two with a gap far too wide for anyone to sanely jump. After all, it wouldn't do to have them trying to escape into the crowds again, now would it? Striped of any type of communicative device and long without sonics and guns, they were little more than men. Extraordinary men of course, but still men. The thud of drums echoed through the arena announcing the beginning of the games, and with it the crowd rose to frenzy.

The sight of their jostling lust for violence and treachery caused The Doctor to sneer sourly. Partially because of the dark wicked nature of the situation he was in, but mostly because the spectators were of the more refined and intelligent that the universe had to offer. Those who prized art and the pursuit of knowledge laid in jeweled and glittering viewing boxes gorging on the taboo and the exotic. And as such, these games were far from the barbaric tradition of merely bashing brains in with the blunt and the traumatic. No, these games were far suited for the elite that came to view them, as well as suited for him.

"Esteemed Patrons from far and wide, we welcome you to a battle of wits for life! The story of choice and sacrifice and the bending of will and self for survival! What would you give to ensure you live another day! What would you do to ensure the sanctuary of an innocent! Where a mere answer alone is what stands between salvation and utter death, how will you stand as the voice and hand of god! Come before us and let us hear your praise, for we present you with the slaughtering of souls. Welcome to The Pit!" The voice of the announcer crackled on over the intercom as several telecom screens blazed to life placed high in the center of the Arena, zooming in on the brooding Doctor and his companion who waved cheekily as if it were a pageant. Amongst them, the clients roared and rose to the calling. "Tonight is a rare treat for you all indeed. Not only do we have The Immortal and The Oncoming Storm," the way they said his alias that used to strike fear into all as if it were a joke made his blood beat furiously through his veins. "But we even got the perfect prize just for the occasion! Something precious to both of our little pets, something they both most rightfully should fight for. After all, they love them so very dearly." And with those words, his anger went cold. It had been weeks since either Jack or he himself had seen a Human as a prize. Months since they had even heard a whisper of one being flushed out of a refugee camp. By now they were all either exported, or dead. Fried, electrocuted, incinerated, drowned; whatever the cause it didn't change the fact that they were so physically fragile. A glance at Jack showed that the American seemed to have the same thoughts as he did; hope and tragedy in his brown eyes. At the far end of the Arena, separated from the platform Jack and The Doctor stood upon, a single tube was revealed with a veil draped over it, causing both men to tense under the spotlight and cameras.

They knew the routine; the rules of the game were to be set before the prize revealed. Even so, the idea that a human (precious and so unlucky) was at stake caused both men to flex in response to the stress of their situations. Above them the screens took on the look of a slot machine, numerous trials and rules blinking across the screen as it decided their fate. Three pictures smacked into place and blinked brightly upon the telecoms, and with them the restrictions of the game had been set.

"And it seems tonight we are in for a good one! The game is Stack'Em High with the Penalty of Death by Gas! Several riddles deemed the best of the best will play across the screen, and with each riddle properly answered a piece of a puzzle key will be awarded. Once all the puzzle pieces are awarded they must be interlocked in order to form a key that when presented will open the air vents of the Prize Chamber. Our champions have to race against time though, seeing that the chamber is so small and gas just doesn't do well in confined places~! There is always The Choice though. Let the Prize die and earn a step closer to Freedom. Save the Prize and earn a year to your employment to the great cause. The game ends when either the Puzzle is Solved or the Prize Expires. Let's hope for the latter! It's always better when they die!"

A pedestal appeared before Jack and The Doctor, several symbols of various languages pressed as a keyboard for them to add their answer and a single slot within which to press the key when they assembled it. Time was everything… funny how a Timelord was restricted by it. Of course their initiative was to save whoever they could, neither he nor Jack were exactly hurting when it came to time. "Now let's unveil the Prize! All the way from Just Upstairs, I present to you the naïve but oh so brave, Human~" The cries of the crowd reached high as across the arena the veil over the tube pulled clear and dropped, revealing the figure of a woman with her back turned towards them. Human… she was unbearably human. The knowledge of it caused both men to tingle. Blonde hair, dressed in blue and trainers, hands pressed against the glass that encompassed her, she took in her surroundings. Was she scared? Of course she was, how couldn't she be? Her head shifted to the side as if realizing that there may be something happening behind her, and as she turned to face them fully everything came to silence and a standstill. His throat clenched shut as his head started to pound, his eyes wide as he took in the look of her. Blond hair that needed touch ups at the roots, brown eyes that flickered over with familiarity as it settled on him and filled with joy, and a smile that spread like sunshine and warmth as a tongue caught itself between teeth. There she was, grinning at him like she always had. As if they were fine, as if everything was good, as if he had just popped on in through the door of the Tardis with an excuse as to why he was late and offered her chips in pouty remorse. As if he had never left her at all. But it was impossible. This was impossible. SHE was impossible! And even though his voice refused to surface and his jaw stood slack against the shock of it all, Jack's strangled voice smacked home just how real it all was. "R-Rose."

His hearts shattered into oblivion.

- End Chapter 1

Limey Here!

Review if you so wish. It makes me happy to think you would~


	2. Impossible Things

Back with Chapter 2! I am hoping to post updates for this Story on a biweekly schedule. Please excuse me though if I miss one or two, life and school are a biznitch. Not to mention the revision of a previous story and the manifestation of its future chapters… but nah. I'm sure we'll be pretty regular. Go ahead, read it up.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and the made-up world.

0Chapter 2: Impossible Things

_Life was meant to be shared_

_-Kelly Rothaws_

Captain Jack Hartness was far from the smartest bloke this side of the rift, but having that said he was far from being the thickest as well. Sure, he may not be as cognitively advanced as his near-extinct comrade with a noggin made to view all of time and space and _not_ explode, but he was no shy wit himself. Just because he grinned like he was Mister America and strut his stuff like the pro he was didn't mean that he wasn't aware of the world around him nor the things that happened before him. How could he be a Time Traveler without knowing certain things? How could he have lived as long as if he did if he wasn't at least a tad bit bright? There were few things that knocked him off his feet (not being able to die being one of them) but in most cases the man had a comeback and a dance for near every possible situation.

The fact that Rose Tyler was standing before him grinning like a loon despite the circumstance of her being in a restriction chamber was impossible though, and as such the usually affluent Captain found he could barely function enough to utter her name in disbelief. The sounds of the crowd dimmed in his ears as he tore his gaze away from the blond (who was at the moment waving enthusiastically at them from behind the reinforced glass) to stare at The Timelord at his side. "You said she was dead." Ah, there it was. His voice was back and working. Good, he needed that in order to rightfully grill the idiot of a spaceman to his side. His hands flew up to grip the wrinkled lapels of the thinner man's suit, ignoring the fact that he looked nearly as distracted and awestruck as Jack felt, and tugged him hard enough to round his stare from the pretty blond (who was now feeling along the walls of the tube as she searched for an exit, pretty pout in place) to his own anger filled baby-blues. "You had me _bury_ her!"

Rage, it bubbled in his blood and seared through his veins. It numbed whatever empathy he would have had for the anguish he saw in his partner's and only caused the fire to surge higher as the usually brainy man responded rather lamely. "S-She had to be. She's _dead_." The haunted gaze of The Doctor shifted back from Jack towards the young woman both men were torn over, taking in the form of her now obviously making some sort of angered comment at the nearest guard to her position and ending the statement with a rude gesture of the hand. Oh, feisty as she ever was, but just so… so very… "Impossible…"

Defeat swam through Jack's limbs as he realized that The Doctor was just as confused and broken over the matter as he was. Even if he shook and ranted at the lumped mass of confusion and personal-pain in his grasp Jack didn't think that The Timelord would be able to answer his demands or his questions. There was time for that later, there were other things to worry about now. He let the worn fabric of the suit jacket drop from his fingers as he turned back to look towards Rose, his heart breaking all over again as she caught his gaze and once again presumed to wave enthusiastically. He put on a brave smile and waved back, his fake bravado veiling just how delicate their situation was. Noticing a frown pull onto her face, he glanced to his side where The Doctor remained utter gobsmacked and rather motionless. Giving Rose an exaggerated sigh and a roll of his eyes, Jack promptly elbowed the man (roughly at that) in the ribs and pointed at the woman in the tube. "Wave you idiot." A weak twist of the wrist was the automatic response, and though it was soft and half-hearted it seemed to brighten the woman to the point where she began once again to search for an exit from the chamber.

The Doctor suddenly turned swiftly to Jack, hands clenching into the front of his white button-down as a look of desperation and wild guilt penetrated his brown eyes. "She's impossible Jack. _Impossible!_ How did they know about her? Why does it _look_ like her! Did you tell them?!" Panic flirted through all of his senses as The Doctor tried to pin the apparition from his past on the foolhardy loose-lipped tendencies of The Captain, his mind rejecting that Rose was in front of him. Because she couldn't be, she was dead! He had seen what had happened to her! Buried her himself! They had never broken his mental defenses, never been able to access his memories, so how did they find out how she looked like! How she smiled, how she moved, her patterns of gestures; how did they make someone take her form so perfectly to torture him?

Whatever Jack was about to say in response died on his lips though as a loud high-pitched horn signaled the start of the game. Both men snapped their attention towards the Prize Chamber, within which a white wispy gas started to emit from the bottom. Rose (or the alien that looked like Rose) frowned as she paused in her attempts to curse the nearest guard out and glanced down at her feet, the gas pooling around her ankles. All around them, the telecoms burst into life with the first of the riddles written in Alien scrawl. There was no more time to reminisce and ponder, The Event had already begun.

Pulling his shirt out of The Timelord's grasp, Jack turned towards the screen and began to sort through the symbols. He paused a bit as his mind stumbled over several of the symbols, wishing sorely now that he had visited more intelligent planets and read texts instead of hopping from Pleasure Planet to Pleasure Planet having flings. Well, no, that'd be a lie wouldn't it? But right now some smart-things would have been helpful. The riddle half-formed in his mind, he growled in frustration and turned towards The Doctor, all to ready to get the man to finish the translation to see that he was still staring at Rose, who had white smoke slowly crawling up her ankles. Great, the brains of the whole operation wasn't even thinking. "Doctor! Focus!" His sharp voice snapped the man out of his daze, sputtering nonsense about impossible things and how she wasn't real. Jack fought back a groan they didn't have time for self-pitying emotional aliens. Rose had no respiratory bypass, she didn't have extra lives, and even though she may come back from the dead he didn't personally want to test the theory out with confidence. So, Jack did what Jack did best; he let his actions speak for him. His hand furled into a fist and smacked clear across the hanging jaw of the stricken man, knocking him right on his ass and effectively stopping the dribble of nonsense. "Impossible or not, she's there. So shut up, help me, and we'll figure it out later!"

"But she's not real." Blank, The Doctor stood with a serious and vacant expression upon his features as he regarded Jack as if he were a fool to be taken in by the look-alike of Rose. It made the American's blood slow and his breath shallow. Really… is that all the man could think of?

"What if she is, would you let her die?" A flicker of doubt passed over his face, considering what he would do if the Rose on the other side of the Arena was really _his_ Rose. The thoughts alone that she was real only caused his throat to tighten as he shook his head stubbornly side to side.

"She's a trick, plucked from my mind to torture us. She isn't real. She _can't_ be real."

Groaning again, Jack ran his hands wildly through his hair and chanced a glance back towards Rose, his heart rate jumping as he noticed the gas circling up around her knees. He didn't have _time_ to be nursing the bruised ego of an ancient being. "Fine! She's not real then. I don't care if she's an image of Rose or not, but I cannot stand here and watch them suffocate her. So just talk to me with that big fat brain of yours, tell me what these symbols mean, and I'll save Rose."

"Jack! Doctor! " Her voice, clear as a bell, rung over the intercoms and broke both men out of their conversations. Snapping their heads in her direction, they were met with the sight of her pressing her back up against the side of the tube and offering them a wavering smile. "I… really dun'know what's happening and all, but I'm guessing the white stuff ain't good?" The Doctor next to him trembled in his arms, tormented at hearing the illusion sound so much like _her_. Calling his name just like she used to! Jack on the other hand only swallowed hard before beaming a grin at her, hoping his false courage would transfer into her as the real thing. He didn't even bother speaking back to her; it wasn't like they she'd be able to hear them without their microphones activated; and usually that only happened on the special occasion of yells of anguish and defeat.

The act seemed to work, because her smile came in tenfold. "Right, you all best start doing what you should be doing cause there ain't much space left, yeah?" Her cheery disposition didn't lighten the mood any, but it did push Jack to push the lump of lord harder.

Prodding, poking, begging, and a threatening of a punch or two had the first riddle translated and solved quickly, presenting them with the first piece of the key. Riddle two and Riddle Three fell quickly after that, The Doctor even helping out on the last one while muttering about how really linear all the phrasing truly was. (These? The best of the Universe? Oh how disappointing the standards of education and wit.) They were halfway through the translation of the fourth riddle when The Doctor promptly paused again in his progress and turned to stare at Rose, who by this time had the gas crawling up around her hips. Despite that fact though she stayed facing them through the ordeal, hands on the glass and patient smile in place. Not a care in the world that lung-paralyzing fumes were slowly crawling up her figure, she waited as if she simply knew that her two men wouldn't fail her here. Faith, such undying faith that blinded and burned with thousands of suns, for Jack and for himself. _How foolish_. Rose, the real Rose, would have known by now that having faith in him was in vain. Her faith was what caused the accident in the first place. The fact that this mockery of Rose dangled her smile so tantalizingly before him simply made his tension turn to anger.

"… You aren't real."

Meant to be a whisper to reaffirm himself that the doppelganger was in fact a fake, both he and Jack jumped as his voice went clear over the intercoms for the whole of the Arena and Rose to hear. Paused in his pondering over the riddle, Jack fixed his eyes first on The Doctor and then towards Rose, both holding identical expressions of surprise and shock. It was Rose first who reacted though, and the words she said made a smile crack bright across Jack's face.

"Who th'hell do you think you're calling not real?!" Anger, sheer and clear anger went ripe on her pretty face as she pointed a finger at The Doctor and fixed her gaze on Jack. "You better knock some right sense into him Jack! Cause if he says those words again I'm gonna knock over this tube and slap him myself!"

Ah, the famous Tyler Slap. That would rightfully put any man, Timelord or Not, into a spin. "Yes Ma'am." Jack's voice came out in sing song as he moved to redirect The Doctor to the task at hand, but just as those two always fit together so well they were just as volatile when put in the mood. And oh, wasn't this just the perfect kind of mood.

"You _stupid _ape!" Jack winced at the volume at which The Doctor responded, his eyes ablaze with fury and life that had been missing for so long. "I am not a fool and I won't be taken for by a look-alike! I'll let you out, but not because of who you resemble. I'll win you're freedom so that I can make you drop her face and then punish you rightfully for taking on her façade! Don't ruin her memory!" The comeback seemed to smack Rose in the face as understanding crossed her features, all lost as The Doctor whirled his back on her to work furiously at the puzzle.

Jack wondered if she knew she was supposed to be dead.

The fourth riddle was solved and they moved onto the fifth, the smoke licking up Rose's ribs and brushing the bottom swell of her breasts. "I promised you forever, ya remember?" Softer than before, her voice lulled over the crowd and caused The Doctor to stiffen. He mumbled something under his breath, something so low that even the microphone didn't pick it up. Her brows furrowed. "Wha?"

"You never did." His eyes were cold as they settled on her, lips formed in a grim slant. "Rose never did." His gaze dismissed her then, labeling her as a fake and settling only on the task of being able to free her to rip her face free. How dare it mutter words that weren't true. How dare it…

"Well that's jus' stupid." He turned his glare blazing back down on her, angered that she would mark his Rose as stupid. She didn't back down from his glower, only gave a slight shrug of her shoulder. "Thought it'd be pretty obvious, what with you being The Doctor and I being Rose Tyler n'all. Why wouldn't we be forever?" Her speech caused him to pause she spoke like she knew him so damn well. Like it was so damn easy. It was truly unsettling though, because even though _he_ knew that they could never be forever Rose, His Rose, would have thought so anyways. "Stuff of Legends, we are. Gonna be fantastic, you said." He stiffened at the remarks, the memories of them playing in his mind. She shouldn't know these details… He had made sure to lock her memories away when he buried her. Not only because they scraped raw across the fresh wounds of his betrayal, but because he couldn't stand to remember, Not then. Not ever. She shouldn't know… Her eyes regarded him quietly, her gaze assessing and probing before she gave another shrug of her shoulder. "… Guess ya ain't The Doctor then."

He was truly surprised then, his eyebrows arching up into his hairline. Not The Doctor, him? (Behind him, Jack gave a whoop as he figured out the Fifth Riddle, lucky for him it was about sex.) That was… absurd. With everyone here to see him, The Doctor, how could she, The Fake, even presume to decide he wasn't who he was? "How do you figure that, hmmm?"

She fixed her gaze to the side, raising her arms up to lay against the walls of the tube as the gas licked dangerously at her chest. "When it came to us, there was always no doubting. He's My Doctor and I'm His Rose; we'd know each other anywhere." Her words echoed into his soul, chipping into the cement of his mental walls and crumbling the foundations of his will. Of course he'd know her anywhere, just by the air shifting around her could he know she was there. The feel of her hand, the way sunlight bounced through her hair, the smell of her happiness rolling off her form whenever they explored somewhere new; he knew Rose Tyler far beyond just the way she looked. He didn't need any other sense but purely to _feel _too know she was there. She paused a bit then though as if considering what she said, frowned, and then looked up at him with her eyebrows pressed in worry. Her bottom lip slipped between her teeth as a victim of a nibble, something he noticed she did when she was nervous, and she fixed her big brown eyes on him. "… Wouldn't we?"

_Oh Rose._ He was defeated, utterly so. Even as his jaw clenched and his hearts hammered in his chest he knew he couldn't say no to that look on her face. His mind told her she wasn't real, she couldn't be real, she was _dead_! Despite that though his fingers twitched to feel her safe in his arms and her eyes begged him to realize who she was. He moved to speak, to answer her question on whether or not he'd know her across the universe and back, but a surge of gas flew up from the bottom of the tank and all at once Rose was gone behind white smoke.

They were out of time.

============= End of Chapter 2

Hey guys.

So that is Chapter 2. Not all of them will end in cliff hangers, but sometimes they are appropriate as a transitioning statement. Like now. 8D. I am still looking for a Beta if anyone is interested. Review if you please, I do feel special when my phone pings and lets me know one of you did. Till next, next week.

-Limey


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